Monday, November 8, 2021

Ibn Ezra on Isaiah 28:10

 M. Friedländer, The Anglican Version of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah Amended According to the Commentary of Ibn Ezra (Publications of the Society of Hebrew Literature; London: Trübner & Co., 1873), 43:

 

10 For precept cometh after precept, precept after precept; line after line, line after line; here a little, and there a little:

 

Commentary from Ibn Ezra:

 

10. For precept must be upon precept, etc. One must speak to them in the same way as the father speaks to his little child, that does not yet know much [Some editions have שלא ירע עוד “that he should not continue to do evil,” but according to I. E. the prophet describes here the mode of imparting knowledge to infants. The Br. Mus. MS. has שלא ירע עוד, and this reading has been adopted for the translation.]. צו לצו “Precept after precept,” or “precept joined to precept.” קו לקו Line after line. This is just the way how writing is taught. Here a little and there a little. Little by little, gradually. (Abraham Ibn Ezra, The Commentary of IBN Ezra on Isaiah, 3 vols. [ed. . M. Friedländer; London: Trübner & Co., 1873], 1:128)